Ian Dennis has revealed on the BBC’s Football News Show why Tottenham Hotspur failed to sign Daniel James on deadline day.
It had been reported near the end of the transfer window that Tottenham were interested in bringing in James to north London, although the Welsh winger did move to London, it was to the west side of the city with Fulham.
James certainly didn’t live up to his £25 million price tag at Leeds registering just eight goal involvements, however, that didn’t stop Antonio Conte from wanting to bring in the winger on loan until the end of the season.
However, Dennis has now claimed that Spurs’ inability to move on Bryan Gil halted them in their pursuit of James.
“For instance, Tottenham had a little bit of interest in Dan James, but that was dependent on Bryan Gil leaving Tottenham to go to a club such as Valencia.”
Did Spurs do enough summer business?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Spurs’ interest in James…
Given that Spurs were only interested in a loan move for James, it would suggest that they saw him as a stop-gap until perhaps next summer when they could’ve looked more in-depth at a suitable winger or wing-back.
It was quite surprising when the news broke of Spurs looking to land James on loan in the final few days of the window given his relatively poor attacking output throughout his career in the Premier League, and the fact they already have Son Heung-min, Richarlison, Lucas Moura and Dejan Kulusevski who can play out wide.
Therefore, it’s highly unlikely they will be ruing the fact they missed out on James to Fulham on deadline day with Antonio Conte boasting a wealth of wide options.